Tanggu Truce

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The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the Tangku Truce was a cease-fire signed between China and Japan in Tanggu, Tianjin on May 31, 1933, which formally ended the Japanese conquest of Manchuria which had begun two years earlier.

In the 1930s Japan was determined to extend their empire because they were convinced of the need for a self-sufficient empire. But this empire was dependent on importing industrial raw materials and food from the mainland of Asia, especially China. Japan wanted to be a world power and for that they believed they needed colonies. On September 18, 1931, officers of the Japanese Guandong Army staged an explosion on the South Manchurian Railway in Manchuria. After blaming the blast on the Chinese, the Guandong Army invaded southern Manchuria, and by February of 1932 had captured the entire region. The Japanese subsequently recalled Pu Yi, who had been China's last emperor, and placed him on the throne of the puppet state of Manchukuo, which was to be comprised of the provinces of Manchuria. In January 1933 the Japanese attacked the Chinese armies in Jehol and drove them back beyond the Great Wall into Hebei Province.

The Tanggu Truce provided for a demilitarized zone south of the Great Wall. The terms were that the Chinese forces would first withdraw to a specified line. The Japanese were authorized to observe by air from time to time whether the withdrawal was complete; on being satisfied with the withdrawal, the Japanese Army was to withdraw to the line of the Great Wall; and the Chinese forces were not to again re-enter the demilitarized zone. Order was to be maintained by a Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps. Two secret clauses excluded Anti Japanese units from this Peace Preservation Corps and provided for any disputes that could not be resolved by the Peace Preservation Corps would be settled by agreement between the Japanese and Chinese governments.

The Western powers condemned Japan's action in Manchuria but did little else. When the League of Nations demanded that Japan stop hostilities in China, the Japanese withdrew from the League in February 1933 (Matsuoka Yosuke personally led the Japanese delegation out the League Assembly Hall in Geneva).

In May of that year, after the Japanese had taken over the province of Jehol as well, the Tanggu Truce was signed. The Truce created a demilitarized zone in the eastern areas of Hebei Province south of the Great Wall of China, thereby detaching Manchuria from China proper and severing any ties the region had with the Chinese state.

The Truce did much to worsen Sino-Japanese relations in the coming years. The Second Sino-Japanese War would break out in 1937, which would eventually be merged into World War II (1939-1945).

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Last updated on Saturday February 16, 2008 at 02:38:30 PST (GMT -0800)
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